Today on NBC Sports / Hardball Talk; Craig Calcaterra relayed a Tracy Ringolsby article from Baseball America which spoke about possible expansion and radical realignment within Major League Baseball.
Per Calcaterra, “Ringolsby stated that there is a ‘growing consensus’ within baseball that expansion and realignment are inevitable. The likely expansion cities would be Portland and Montreal. The 32-team league would then undergo a radical realignment that would involve reducing the season from 162 games to 156 games, while expanding the playoffs to 12 teams.”
(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)
Going off of that, here are my thoughts on what that could look like:
East League
Mid-Atlantic
Baltimore
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
NY Mets
South
DC
Atlanta
Tampa Bay
Miami
North
Toronto
Montreal
Boston
NY Yankees
Central
Cleveland
Cincinnati
Milwaukee
Detroit
West League
Don’t Have A Name Division
Texas
Houston
Minnesota
Colorado
Central 2
Chicago Cubs
Chicago White Sox
St. Louis
Kansas City
Pacific NW
Portland
Seattle
San Francisco
Oakland
Southern CA
LA Dodgers
LA Angels
San Diego
Arizona
156 Game Regular Season
3 Division Foes: 20 games each = 60 games
12 teams rest of league: 6 games each = 72 games
8 teams other league: 3 games each = 24 games
Post-Season:
Each Division Winner + 2 Wild Cards
1st Rd
WC1
WC2
D3
D4
D1 Bye
D2 Bye
2nd Rd
WC Winner
D1
D3 / 4 Winner
D2
3rd Rd
WC vs. D1 Winner
vs.
D3/4 vs. D2 Winner
Not married to this format. Maybe it makes more sense for the Wild Card teams to face the 3rd and 4th Division winners in the 1st Round.
I believe the 1st Round would have to be a best of 3. The idea being that you’d have two division winners involved, and you wouldn’t want the top two division winners to sit too long.
I think I’d be fine with a large reshuffling, but I do respect that many would not.
While radical realignment does seem aggressive for Baseball, I do bet they will do it by geography if:
1) Teams would actually save $ on travel…
2) Players believe they would be better off not traveling as much…
3) By this realignment by geography, if there would be more games for your fans to watch at ‘normal’ times for their respective markets.
Many of us recall Milwaukee being the AL East. Or Houston as part of the NL. Or that when Atlanta started their run of division titles, they were the NL West Champs.
What I’ve suggested above would be an adjustment, but I think people would get over it quickly.
Everyone talks about baseball being a regional game at this point. Seems like this would be the logical progression.
It’s been mentioned several times over the years, but a big proponent of radical realignment is Buck Showalter. He’s previously worked out his own model, which can be seen here.
O’s fans, would you be favor of or opposed to MLB Expansion, and radical realignment?
What would be your plan?
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